The Law is Beautiful

Call to Worship: Psalm 65

Good morning! Welcome to church at First Baptist Church of Elyria. We're so glad that you've joined us this morning online and in our sanctuary. We're going to go ahead and start our service with Psalm 65.

Praise is rightfully yours, God, in Zion; vows to you will be fulfilled. All humanity will come to you, the one who hears prayer. Iniquities overwhelm me; only you can atone for our rebellions. How happy is the one you choose and bring near to live in your courts! We will be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple.

— Psalm 65:1-4 (CSB)

Join us in worship this morning.

Worship in Song

Oh Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made. I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee, How great Thou art, how great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee, How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

And when I think that God, His Son not sparing, Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in. That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin.

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee, How great Thou art, how great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee, How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart! Then I shall bow in humble adoration And there proclaim, "My God, how great Thou art!"

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee, How great Thou art, how great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee, How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

God and mercy fills the street with Him for eternity. There will be a day when all will bow before Him. There will be a day when we will be standing face to face with He who died. Holy, holy is the Lord, we pray, we pray.

In the end, it was worth it when He returned. There will be a day when all will bow before Him. There will be a day when we stand face to face. They rejoice in resurrection beside the heroes of the faith, forever. There will be a day when all will bow before Him. There will be a day when there will be no weeping, face to face, risen again. Holy is the Lord.

We join the song of angels, of the saints, we raise glory to our God who gave us life beyond the grave. Holy, holy is the Lord. Holy, holy is the Lord. Holy is the Lord.

We might become His righteousness, Himself carried our sins. Amazing love, so amazing. Blessed Redeemer, You rescued us from the grave. Jesus, Lord of all. Body, the bread, His blood broken and poured. Amazing love, so amazing. Jesus, Messiah, Name above all names. Blessed Redeemer, Emmanuel. You rescued us, the ransom from heaven. Jesus, Messiah, Lord of all.

Oh, our hope is in You. Glory to You, God of the world. Jesus, Messiah, blessed Redeemer, Emmanuel. Rescue for sinners, ransom from heaven. Jesus, Messiah, Lord of all. Jesus, Messiah, Lord of all. Lord of all.

To Jesus, I surrender all. To Him I freely give. I will ever love and trust Him, in His presence daily live. I surrender all. I surrender all. All to Thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all.

Worldly pleasures all forsaken, take me, Jesus, take me now. I surrender all. I surrender all. All to Thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all.

Make me, Savior, wholly Thine. Let me feel Thy Holy Spirit. Know that Thou art mine. I surrender all. I surrender all. All to Thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all.

I surrender all to Jesus, I surrender all. Lord, I give myself to Thee. Fill me with Thy love and power. Let Thy blessings fall on me. I surrender all. I surrender all. All to Thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all.

Introduction to the Pastoral Epistles

Man, someone praise the Lord! God is good, and all the time, amen. "I Surrender All"—you know, that's what Christianity is about. We surrender all that we thought we were, all that we thought we had, all that we thought we were going to be—we surrender it to Almighty God. When I had my ordination years ago, I requested that song to be sung, because once you make that commitment, everything changes.

A lot of times, we surrender partially. We think, "Well, I'll give up this, or I'll give up that." But when you surrender all, when you let everything go, that's when God can really use you. He can really change you, mold you, and shape you. Amen! Praise God.

Turn with me, if you would, to 1 Timothy. When you get to 1 Timothy, say "Amen." This coming Wednesday, we're going to start Bible study again from 7:00 to 8:00 PM in the Bible study room. I'm going to be doing the Pastoral Epistles: 1 and 2 Timothy, and Titus. So, today is kind of an introduction and a preview of that. It is what I've been studying this week, and I'm going to do this first part of chapter one of Timothy this morning.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope: To Timothy, my true son in the faith. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. As I urged you when I went to Macedonia, remain in Ephesus so that you may instruct certain people not to teach false doctrine or to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies. These promote empty speculations rather than God’s plan, which operates by faith. Now the goal of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. Some have departed from these and turned aside to fruitless discussion. They want to be teachers of the law, although they don’t understand what they are saying or what they are insisting on. But we know that the law is good, provided one uses it legitimately. We know that the law is not meant for a righteous person, but for the lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinful, for the unholy and irreverent, for those who kill their fathers and mothers, for murderers, for the sexually immoral and males who have sex with males, for slave traders, liars, perjurers, and for whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which was entrusted to me.

— 1 Timothy 1:1-11 (CSB)

May the Lord add a blessing to the reading and hearing of His most precious and holy word. Let us pray.

Lord God, we come to you this morning again giving You honor, praise, and thanksgiving. Lord, we come bowing down to You, recognizing that You are our Lord, our Creator, our Maker, and our Sustainer. We look to You for all things, Lord. So, Father, I ask that one more time You would open our eyes to see, our ears to hear, and our hearts to receive what it is that You have for us. Guide us into Your word this morning, Lord. Give us not just understanding, but give us application. Open our eyes to really see what we've never seen, to hear what we've never really heard, and our hearts to receive what we must receive.

Father, I thank You for those who are here, those who are on their way, those who are traveling, and those who are home recuperating. We just speak a word of blessing over all of them—healing, strength, and encouragement, Lord. We thank You, Lord, that as we gather this morning, You gather with all of us, no matter where we're at and what we're going through. In this, we give You praise, honor, and glory. And all those in agreement in Jesus' name say, "Amen." Praise God.

The Law is Beautiful

The title of our message this morning is "The Law is Beautiful." The Greek word for "good" is kalos, and it means good, but it has a deeper understanding of "beautiful" behind it. In other words, the law is good, the word of God is good, but it is also beautiful. I think sometimes we don't really look at Scripture that way. We know it's authoritative, we know it's used for instruction, we know it is God's word. But do we ever really just stop and say, "You know, this is beautiful what God has given us"? Not only is it good, but it is beautiful.

When something is beautiful, you look at it, you study it, you admire it, you behold it, and you return to it. This is the way the word of God should be. We should always admire it, look at it, study it, and always return to it because it is beautiful.

In verses 1 and 2, Paul writes: "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, To Timothy, my true son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord." Two things are going on here. Paul is the author of this particular letter, and he's writing it to Timothy. As you go through 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus, realize that Paul, who is the older, more seasoned theologian, is writing to Timothy, the younger theologian and younger pastor.

Paul, as you know, was a leader of the early church. He wrote about a third of the New Testament and certainly influenced everything that the church does today. Paul was an Old Testament theologian, but he had that conversion, and then he gave his life totally to Christ. He is the one who really shapes for us what the church should be. As you read Timothy and Titus, you realize that this is showing us the shape that the church should take—how we should organize and how we should put things together. So, it's a pastoral letter, but it's written to all of us. Not just pastors, but we also need to know: Who should a pastor be? Who should an elder be? Who should a deacon be? What's the structure of the church? How do you put these things together? It is explained here in Timothy.

Paul is writing to Timothy, and Timothy is one of Paul's favorite disciples. He was with him quite a bit in his ministry. He was a young pastor who was well-received by the church and all those around him. He traveled with Paul. At one time, Paul had a disagreement with John Mark, and he basically said to John Mark, "You stay home; I'm taking Timothy with me." He had a deep affection for Timothy and used Timothy quite a bit. Timothy ministered in Ephesus, among other places.

Rejecting Strange Doctrines

In verse 3, Paul writes, "As I urged you when I went to Macedonia, remain in Ephesus so that you may instruct certain people not to teach false doctrine." He says, "I want you to make sure that this church understands the law. I want you to help this church understand what Scripture is, what Scripture means, and how to rightly divide the word of God." He says this because if you can rightly divide the word of God, then that means you can also wrongly divide the word of God. You can misappropriate it; you can misuse it.

The church should never be a place of strange beliefs. It should be a place of truth, sincerity, and walking in God's word. Almighty God created all things, and we are to teach, believe, and share what He has said. Yet, strange beliefs and strange doctrines creep into the church. If we are not careful—if pastors are not careful in what they teach or what they allow to be taught—then there's a possibility of strange things coming in. You don't just allow anyone in the pulpit. You don't just allow anyone to teach a Bible study. There is a lot of work that goes on behind that. You don't want to go down that road where you find yourself in a place and suddenly realize, "This is not on the pages of the Bible."

A lot of times, you can listen to somebody once or twice, or see someone on television, and it sounds great and looks good. But the more you listen to them, or the more you see what's going on, suddenly you realize something is a little off. You can't quite put your finger on it, but eventually, you do, and you realize this is not what Scripture is saying.

Every New Testament gospel or epistle warns us against false teaching and strange doctrines—every single one. That tells me this is going to be something that will plague the church. This was written originally when there weren't that many churches. Now, how many churches do we have? Thousands upon thousands, hundreds of thousands of churches all around the globe. Think about it: Are they all teaching sound doctrine, or are strange doctrines coming in?

Number one for a pastor, leader, or Bible teacher is to make sure you are on the pages of the Bible and that you are rightly dividing the word of God. You do not want to waste your time under teaching that is false and is not about God, but about something else. You have to be able to discern what is true and what is not.

It is like my analogy of a fake $100 bill. If you work in a bank, they don't teach you to recognize counterfeit $100 bills by studying the counterfeits; they teach you to know what a real $100 bill looks like. That way, any kind of counterfeit that gets in your hand, you automatically know it's wrong because counterfeits are all different. But if you know what the real deal looks like, as soon as a counterfeit comes into your hand, you reject it immediately. It's the same way with the word of God. If you know what God is saying, if you know your Bible, and if you know Scripture, when somebody tries to bring something counterfeit in, you'll reject it right away. But if you don't know, you might try to pass it on, just like a fake $100 bill. That is a problem, and we need to make sure that does not happen.

Paul, who ministered with Timothy for countless hours in countless places, is writing this letter just to remind him: Do not let strange doctrines and strange beliefs come into the church.

The Danger of Mere Speculation

In verse 4, he says, "...or to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies. These promote empty speculations rather than God’s plan, which operates by faith."

What he means there is useless speculation. He says that these things give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God, which is by faith. Mere administration, in this sense, is useless speculation. It is not good for anything. It is like a scenario you construct in your head. Like when you were in school, and you thought somebody didn't like you, so you came up with these little scenarios: "So-and-so doesn't like me because of this," or "That person doesn't like me because of that." Every time you create a scenario like that in your head, you are usually wrong because it is not based on any truth. This is what happens a lot of times. People say, "Well, this is what God is saying," or "It's like this or that," when they really have not studied. They try to tell you what God is saying without really knowing who God is or what God is doing in the process of correctly and rightly dividing His word. They just add a lot to it, and it becomes speculation.

Anytime you speculate, you risk being wrong because it is not based on fact. Speculation, as it is broken down in Greek, can also mean "rumor." Think about this: rumors in the church. Rumors about what? About God! "Well, you know, God is just waiting to come down on you." Or, "Well, you know, God is just love; He'll never judge you." That is gossip. That's what speculation is—it's gossip, assumptions, theories. "Well, I assume it's this way because that's part of speculation." Theory is not based in truth; it's just a theory. You have to test it out. Speculation is also guesswork; it's opinion.

The word of God is clear in its context and its content. You don't have to speculate about it. You don't have to change it or turn it. You just have to study it, rightly divide it, and understand the passage and what is actually going on. What is God actually saying? Therefore, speculation and rumors and all this other stuff don't come into it.

Years ago, before I really committed my life to God, I used to try to read the Bible. I loved to read, but I couldn't make a lot of sense out of the things in the Bible. I would read in the Old Testament where it talked about "aliens," and I would think, "Ooh, aliens in the Bible!" I didn't know what it was talking about. It was talking about foreigners, people living in a different country, but I was thinking of spacecraft and all kinds of other stuff! Once I got saved and committed to studying the Bible, I realized how silly I was being by thinking it was about outer-space aliens. But as goofy as that sounds, stuff just as goofy—and worse—comes into the church because people just take what it says on the surface and say, "Oh, well, this is what it means," without studying and understanding what is actually going on.

The word of God is clear in its content. Anyone who preaches the word of God will tell you there's a lot of work that goes into it. You can't just take one passage of Scripture out of context. The problem is, sometimes people know about four different scriptures, and they will try to run your life with those four scriptures. "Well, the Bible says this, and the Bible says that." But what is the context? What is He really saying, and how is He saying it? What is the proper use of it?

If you are ever in a room and someone is teaching, and they take a passage of Scripture from Genesis, another from Jeremiah, another from Song of Solomon, another from Mark, and then something from Revelation, and they string it all together to try to tell you what God is saying—they have just taken all those scriptures out of context and created a new context that does not exist. This is what Paul is warning against. When you do that, you are taking it out of its context.

Would you read any book and take a line from chapter one, a line from chapter eight, a line from chapter thirteen, and a line from chapter fourteen, string them together, and say, "Now I know what this book is all about"? You would say, "No, that doesn't work because you don't know the story. You don't know what happens in between, and you don't know the context of what's going on." This is what he is saying. If you don't know the context, if you're not correctly dividing the word of God, and if you're not teaching it in its context, there is a danger that the way you use it will be wrong.

Whenever you take Scripture out of its context, you take the power and the authority out of it, because the power and the authority of Scripture is found in its context. We have to understand it in the context of what He is saying. It can't just be stringing words together. That's called "preaching out of need"—they need you to hear something, so they take four or five different scriptures that say something similar because they are trying to force a point they want you to hear, rather than just taking what God has said and preaching it. That is useless speculation.

The Goal of Instruction

In verses 5 and 6, he writes: "Now the goal of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. Some have departed from these and turned aside to fruitless discussion."

Notice he says "the goal" here. In other words, this is what you need to be looking at. There is a goal. As church leaders, pastors, and teachers, our goal is to teach the Bible in love, with a pure heart, a sincere heart, and to strive for biblical truth. If you love God, if you love the people you are teaching, if you are willing to put the time into it, and if your heart is right and you are doing things for the right reason, then what comes out of it is the correct use of Scripture. If you are trying to use Scripture to fit something you want to say, then you are twisting it and changing it. Those are the strange beliefs and strange doctrines where Scripture gets twisted and turned the wrong way. Scripture is very clear in what it says, and we need to follow it the way it is written.

Biblical truth is what we strive for. Time is really too short for foolishness. I don't know about you, but this world is going so fast and so many things are going on. We need to get out and preach the gospel, sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, because time is short. It is really short. Life is going by so fast, and we always say, "Where did the time go? It seems like just yesterday the kids were small, just yesterday I was in high school, just yesterday I was..." Time is short. We shouldn't spend our time wasting it on foolish things.

In verse 7, speaking of those who have strayed, he says they are "wanting to be teachers of the law, although they don’t understand what they are saying or what they are insisting on."

They "want to be." Just because you want to be doesn't mean you are ready to be. I've had people come to me and say, "Will you teach me how to be a pastor? The Lord is calling me to be a pastor."

I say, "Okay." Then I tell them to stand at the door and greet people.

They say, "No, no, no, I want to be a pastor."

I say, "I know. Go stand at the door and greet people."

They say, "No, I want to do this."

I say, "I know. Go to the door and greet people because that's where you begin." If you can't do that, you can't do this.

People want to bypass so many things, and suddenly they want to be in the pulpit. It's like when a celebrity gets saved. Last Thursday they were a heathen, Friday they got saved, and on Sunday they are in the pulpit teaching. That doesn't make any sense! Yet people sit there and go, "Amen! Hallelujah!" It's great that they got saved, but if you want to do that person justice, and if you want to do the church justice, disciple them first. That's why Jesus said, "Go make disciples," so that they know what they are doing. If they don't know what they are doing, they are going to teach amiss, lead people astray, and eventually find themselves right back where they started because a true conversion did not take place—it was just the warm fuzzies.

The role of a pastor is a calling. We answer to God. A pastor is under a stricter judgment; you can read James 3:1 for that. Years ago, when I was already teaching and in the pulpit doing ministry, I realized that God was calling me to full-time ministry, and I realized I needed to go to seminary. People were already calling me "minister" and "pastor," and I was preaching, but I realized I am going to be held accountable for what I teach. I am going to be accountable for what I do, so I had better, to the best of my ability, find out what it is that I am teaching.

When I was about thirteen or fourteen years old, I saw an ad for higher education, and it said: "If someone knows more about what you know best, you don't know enough." That stuck with me. If someone knows more about what you know best, you don't know enough. From that point on, like Paul says, "Not that I have already reached the goal or am already perfect, but I make every effort to take hold of it." I keep pressing into this word because there is so much more to know, so much more to understand.

Being a teacher of the law, a leader in the church, you need to make sure you understand what you are doing and what you are accountable for. This position up here is not something you just put a "help wanted" ad out for on the front of the building. If you do, you are going to have all kinds of problems. But if you are called, if you are willing to put the work in, if you are willing to be humble, to sacrifice, and to do those things God has called you to do, the end result will always be positive and the people will be edified.

He is saying here: Know what you are teaching. Know how to teach it. Know how to rightly divide the word of God. We must understand the call before we call. This is what the Pastoral Epistles are concerned with: understanding what you are called to be and what you are doing, so that you will do it rightly.

You might say, "Well, that's just for pastors." But the congregation needs to know what a pastor should be. If you don't know what a pastor should be, you might put somebody up here who is just funny or entertaining, or someone you simply like, but are they really teaching you correctly?

I had a conversation with somebody last week, and he was saying his children left here and moved to another city. They found a church over there. I asked, "What do they like about the church?"

He said, "Well, they really like the children's ministry because they have children."

I said, "Okay, but what about the pastor? What kind of teaching are they going to be under? Are they just going because it works for the kids?" They could be learning something that is straight crazy. Sometimes things aren't always what they seem to be. It can't just be, "I like it because the lawn is cut," "I like it because they have a big building," "I like it because the chairs are comfortable," or "I like it because they have a lot of kids." All those things are fine, don't get me wrong. But the teaching that comes out of that church has to be rock solid, or everything else is going to fall.

That is my metaphor of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Why does it lean? They did something wrong. They didn't build it intending for it to lean. The Tower of Pisa is a bell tower for a cathedral. It took them 300 years to build it, and about 150 years in, they realized it was leaning. In other words, they realized it was going wrong. So, what did they do? "Well, it's leaning this way, so let's try to build it a little more this way." Once something leans, I don't care how much you try to build it the other way to compensate, it will eventually collapse because the foundation is off.

That's the way it is with the word of God. If your foundation in the word of God is off, you're going to lean eventually. The problem with the Tower of Pisa is that for a building of that size, the foundation was too shallow, and the soil was too soft. Think about that in terms of theology and our understanding of God. If the soil we are in is not edifying, not nurturing enough to get us to maturity as Christians, or if we're not going deep enough into the word of God, what's going to happen? We're going to lean.

What do you do once you find out you're leaning? You have to correct the lean. Sometimes you have to dismantle everything you've built. I can't tell you how many times I thought, "This is what the word of God is saying," and then as I learned a little bit more, I said, "Whoa, I have to change that. I was a little off from what I was being told." When I looked at it for myself, I realized I had to adjust. Then I went to seminary and adjusted again—always adjusting, always looking.

It's like a builder. Paul says he is a master architect (architekton), building on the foundation of Jesus Christ. When you are building a wall or laying carpet, you always look to make sure you are on the plumb line. We always have to make sure we are on the plumb line of God as we are building the church and building our own theology. Always check it with the word of God, because if you don't, you could veer off. You always have to check it. Paul said, "Not that I have already reached the goal, but I keep pressing on."

The Law is Good and Lawful

In verse 8, he writes: "But we know that the law is good, provided one uses it legitimately."

Legitimately—according to the rules, according to what God has said. It is like people saying, "Well, I'm a New Testament Christian; I don't need the Old Testament." That is not using it legitimately because you just threw away the Bible that Jesus taught from! The New Testament wasn't written yet. You just threw away all the commandments, the structure, the moral law, the social law, the governmental laws, and all the blessings.

When people say, "I'm a New Testament Christian," I get what they are trying to say, but all of Scripture is good. At the time 2 Timothy was written, the only Scripture they had was the Hebrew Bible—the Old Testament. All of that is good, and the New Testament is as well. All of it is for us to understand.

The word of God must be kept in context. It is like lawyers. Lawyers study the law, but they don't know all of the law. Some are in government law, some in constitutional law, some in family law, and some are personal injury lawyers. There is a different set of rules for each discipline. But as pastors and teachers, we are to study the law of God, know what God says, follow it, and teach it accordingly.

Are there going to be passages in the Bible where we think, "I don't know about that," or "Maybe I don't want to teach that today," or "Maybe I haven't dealt with that in my own life, so I'm not going to go there"? No. You have to teach the whole thing. You have to look at the whole thing. That is why I say the sermon is first for me; I just get to share it with you.

In verses 9 and 10, he says:

We know that the law is not meant for a righteous person, but for the lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinful, for the unholy and irreverent, for those who kill their fathers and mothers, for murderers, for the sexually immoral and males who have sex with males, for slave traders, liars, perjurers, and for whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching...

— 1 Timothy 1:9-10 (CSB)

Notice: "...contrary to sound teaching." What is the law for? What is the word of God for? It convicts. We would not know moral law if it were not for the Bible. Moral laws come from the Bible. Social laws are in the Bible. Governmental laws are in the Bible. This is the standard we live by. Right and wrong come from God.

I have encountered people who say they are atheists, and I ask them, "You're an atheist, what does that mean?"

They say, "I don't believe in God."

I say, "But you follow God all the time."

They get upset and say, "I don't follow your God!"

I say, "Yes, you do. Did you kill anybody today?"

"Well, no, that would be wrong."

"Why? That wasn't your idea. God said that way before you were here. Will you steal from your neighbor?"

"No."

"Well, that wasn't your idea; that was God's."

People don't realize how much they follow God without really understanding. When you are preaching the gospel, a lot of times you just have to take people where they are and show them who God is to bring them closer to Christ. Atheists follow God's principles every day of their lives. Why do you stop at a red light? "Well, because it would be against the law." It's not rocket science, folks. There were no rockets when it was written. Let's not turn it into rocket science.

We live in a world where God's law is not considered. The world is trying to change everything that is morally sound, everything that God has said. They are trying to take it away, and it is our job to make sure it stays. But if we don't teach sound doctrine, we just let anything exist because we don't want to hurt anybody's feelings. I would rather hurt your feelings and know you are going to heaven than not hurt your feelings and realize you are going to hell.

In verse 11, he concludes: "...that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which was entrusted to me."

The glorious gospel, the beautiful law. This is the word of God. Sometimes we miss the poetic form in Scripture because we are not reading it in the original language. When you read the Old Testament in Hebrew, a lot of it is pure poetry. The same thing is true in Greek. You read James, and it is beautiful poetry in the Greek. But we miss the poetic elements as we translate it into English.

Glory to God for His beautiful law that guides us in the way of righteousness and holiness! This is what he is saying: Be a teacher of sound doctrine. Teach people in love and humility. Share about a loving, kind God, but also One who is the lawgiver and the law-upholder, and who will one day judge us according to the law.

If we find ourselves as sinners, what does all of this mean? It means that God loved you enough to find a way for you to overcome the sin in your life. If we acknowledge our sin—acknowledge that we have sinned before God, that He has a standard, and that we have fallen short of that standard—and if we are willing to repent (which means, "I was going in this direction with my life, but now I'm going to stop that sinning and go in God's direction"), and if you believe in your heart (fully persuaded that God so loved you that He sent His only begotten Son to die for you on the cross and take those sins upon Himself), and if you are willing to share that with someone else—the result is salvation. That, in about a minute, is the gospel. That is what we are to share. We are sinners, and we need salvation.

The glorious gospel, the beautiful law. Glory to God for His righteous law that guides us in the way of righteousness and holiness. Paul centers his letter to Timothy on the law and the gospel. It is Scripture alone and Christ alone—two of the solas from the Reformation—along with faith, grace, and glory to God alone. God holds all things together. He is the Alpha and the Omega, a definite beginning and a definite end. Our sin separates us from Him, but He so loved us that He made a way through Jesus Christ.

As pastors, teachers, and church members, we need to hold ourselves accountable to Scripture to make sure that we are doing the best we can. We are not perfect, but we do the best we can in rightly dividing the word of God. Amen! Somebody praise the Lord.

Let me pray, and then I'll have Pastor John come up to close.

Lord God, we give You praise, honor, and glory. Father, we thank You for opening our eyes to see, our ears to hear, and our hearts to receive. Lord, You are the standard. You are righteous, You are holy, and You are true. We are sinners in need of salvation, in need of guidance, in need of repentance—sinners who need our Savior, Lord Jesus Christ.

Father, help us to uphold the word of God, to uphold the word of truth, and to be workmen who do not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Help us in our Bible studies, in our times of devotion, in our Sunday gatherings, and whenever we come together under Your name. Teach us, guide us, strengthen us, and encourage us, Lord. In this, we give You all praise, honor, and glory. In Jesus' name we pray, and the church said, "Amen." Praise God.

Announcements and Benediction

Pastor John: Good morning. Thank you for that message, Pastor Steve. I have a couple of announcements for us. First and foremost, giving. Pastor Steve talked about James and how it's beautifully written. Let me just read you a short verse here from James 1:17:

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

— James 1:17 (CSB)

One of the things we get to do every time we give is reflect who God is. We get to reflect His character by showing that He is a good, delightful, and generous God. If you're interested in giving online, you can do that. Let me go ahead and pray for us.

Lord, we acknowledge this morning that everything we have belongs to You. So, we thank You for being kind to us. We pray, Lord, that You would help us to use these resources to advance Your kingdom, to save souls, and to edify Your people. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.

A couple of classes are going on at the church. Irwin is leading a Bible study on the Book of John every Sunday morning from 8:45 to 9:25 AM in the library. You are more than welcome to attend that. This morning, I also taught the first session of "Church Matters," which is a class overviewing some basics about the church. This morning we went over what the Bible says about joining a church. Next week, we'll be talking about our statement of faith—what our church believes—and walking through that together. That will be at 9:00 AM in the Bible study room in the back. All are welcome to come to that.

We also have Wednesday night Bible studies starting up this Wednesday night. That will be in the Bible study room. Pastor Steve will be leading us through the Pastoral Epistles. So, if you enjoyed the sermon this morning and you want more from Paul's letters, make sure you come to that class on Wednesday night. That is at 7:00 PM in the Bible study room.

Lastly, we have our 75th anniversary coming up in October. If you're interested in helping and preparing for that, please talk to Billie as she gets ready to prepare. I have been combing through our church archives over the past couple of weeks, so I thought it would be fun, every time I give this announcement, to share some fun facts that I've uncovered.

First, there was a news clipping from soon after the Korean War announcing that one family from this church had adopted two Korean children. When I read that, I thought, "That's kind of like what you guys did with me!" So, thank you for bringing me in.

Secondly, there was a church slogan when it was planted in 1948, when they publicized this new church starting, and their slogan was: "The new church with the old gospel." I love that! We are now an older church, but we have the same gospel. Amen.

Let me go ahead and close our time with the benediction as the music team comes up. From 2 Corinthians 13:14: "May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all."

Closing Worship

For all You’ve done, we give You thanks. We lift our praise to give You thanks. We give thanks, for we know all things work together for our good. We give praise, for by faith we know Your grace will see us through.

Even when we don't understand, we walk by faith. By faith, we know Your grace will see us through. We give thanks, we give praise, For we know all things work together for our good. We give thanks, we give thanks, For by faith we know Your grace will see us through.

Even if we stumble, even if we fall, You will not forsake us, You are King of all. Lord of all, we give You thanks. We give praise, for we know that all things work together for our good. We give thanks, we give praise, For by faith we know Your grace will see us through. By faith, we know Your grace will see us through. Your grace will see us through.

God bless you, have a great week!